MICHIGAN: Cuts could hike homelessness
The (Mt. Pleasant) Morning Sun
By ROSEMARY
HORVATH
Sun Staff Writer
Originally published March 11, 2005
Gratiot County's homeless population could increase due to cuts to a federally subsidized rental housing program that for years provided shelter to low-income elderly, disabled and families.
The St. Louis Housing Commission has $90,000 less to work with this year under the Section 8 low-rent program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"Some 15 households will drop off and won't receive assistance,“ said Kerry Marsh, executive director, who already has a waiting list of more than a hundred eligible households. Wait time for a voucher has been one year.
"We probably could help 200 to 250 families and elderly in the county,“ if money matched demand, she said.
This year the commission has $413,000 to help 135 households. A tenant pays 30 percent of the monthly rent, or a $50 minimum, and the voucher program subsidizes the difference. Rental amounts are limited and eligibility is based on income.
All clients are recertified annually. Eligibility ceases when a household income increases.
Marsh learned of the cut in January. She immediately withdrew 10 vouchers given to families in the process of looking for rental housing.
"They were put back on the waiting list,“ she said.
Since January the commission developed a lottery in case funding is dramatically cut again. Selection would then hinge on a blindfold test. Names will be thrown together and picked out one at a time.
That means an elderly disabled person or a family with children, otherwise very deserving, would be eliminated from the voucher program, Marsh said.
The commission can't pick and choose, she said.
Besides the 155 clients on average, some 100 landlords are involved. Keeping landlords has been hard enough, Marsh said, because rents stay around $300 a month. Rentals in general are $500 and higher.
This is the first time in 15 years since she's been with the commission they've faced cuts, Marsh said. More cuts are expected.
The number of homeless people in the county is expected to increase and that more applicants will live with extended families, she said.
"The government is cutting funding at a time when it isn't easy to get a job,“ she said. "The whole Section 8 program is in jeopardy if they continue to reduce the subsidy.“
Every program is on the chopping block. Funding for the capital fund which rehabilitates apartments and for public housing is on a downward slope, Marsh said.